The establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) included a large international policing component, called the UNMIK Police. They were given two main tasks by UN Security Council Resolution 1244: 1) to establish a new police force; 2) in the meantime, to maintain civil law and order. The name for the new police force, "Kosovo Police Service", was chosen by the first international police commissioner, Sven Frederiksen.[1]
As of February 2008, when Kosovo declared independence, the force became a governmental agency of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo. Before, it was subordinated to the UNMIK Police, and the police commissioner retained command authority over both the international police and the Kosovo Police.
The bulk of the Kosovo Police are patrol officers. However the force has specialised investigative units in all six regions, including Organised Crime Units, Forensics Units, and several others. In addition to those specialist units in the investigative side of law enforcement, every region has a Regional Operational Support Unit (called ROSU), who are trained for times where forced entry is needed on search warrants, as well as acting as front line officers during riot situations, or in times when crowd control is necessary. The Kosovo Police Close Protection unit serves as the body guards for visiting heads of state, and for Kosovo's own political leaders.
Regional Street Crimes Unit / Regional Operational Support Unit
The first ROSU in Kosovo was for Pristina and originally called Regional Street Crimes Unit (RSCU) in early 2002, which was created and lead by CIVPOL Chief Angel G.Queipo (Florida,United States) who implemented undercover operations, special police tactics to include public disorder units within the ranks of the RSCU. The creation of the RSCU was under the command of Pristina Regional Commander, Superintendent Paul Hamlin (Northern Ireland) . That unit was based in Kosovo Polje and was used to support all regions as needed. Later due to successes of that unit and additional responsibilities in the team mission to include support of CPU on high risk principals, the name was changed to ROSU and duplicate units were placed in each region of Kosovo. The idea was to operate each unit as a separate "troop" with a commander reporting to the mission commander similar to how the State Police operate in the United States.